Our View: Cheers and Jeers

Sunday

Jul 9, 2017 at 5:45 AM

CHEERS to the residents of the Town of Framingham - its official name even though it’s now a city - for stepping up to the plate and making sure once the switch is flipped, so to speak, no elected position will go unfilled in the newly formed city government.

As of July 3, the deadline to file nomination papers for the Sept. 26 primary, more than 50 candidates gathered the required 500 signatures to make it on the ballot.

The candidacies of six have been approved to run for mayor, with two more pending as of Wednesday. There will also be a competitive race for the two at-large city council seats, and four-way races in District 3 and District 6.

Can we say apathy is dead or at the very lease on life support? Maybe not, but this is a good sign, a great start for the city.

JEERS to the TechSandBox, which will close for good after its last event July 10 due to a lack of sustainable funding. Founded and run by CEO Barbara Finder, the tech incubator aimed “to make MetroWest more like Silicon Valley” by giving young companies the resources they needed to succeed.

Based on South Street in Hopkinton, TechSandBox provided meeting space, educational programs, mentors, and helped connect startups with investors. Over the years, the nonprofit was very successful, helping to launch nearly 50 startup companies in the region.

Here's hoping some other organization fills the void, providing one or more of these needed services in the suburbs west of Boston.

CHEERS to Muzzie Franciose of Natick who over the past three decades took it upon himself to maintain the World War II memorial on Cottage Street in Natick. No one asked Franciose to do this; he simply saw a need and took action, planting flowers, weeding and providing other general maintenance.

In addition to maintenance, the 92-year-old World War II Navy vet helped fundraise for today’s stone memorial, which replaced the original memorial installed in 1945 listing 213 service members from the Squash End section of Natick.

On July 22 at noon, Franciose will receive much deserved recognition during a ceremony at the site. All are welcome to attend. We hope to see a crowd.

JEERS to the state Legislature, specifically the six-member House-Senate conference committee, which failed to meet a self-imposed deadline to deliver a compromise pot bill to Gov. Charlie Baker.

While lawmakers have the right to make adjustments to the law approved by voters legalizing recreational marijuana, there should not be a total rewrite. The House bill pretty much does that, upping the tax rate on retail marijuana sales to 28 percent, while the Senate version makes small changes and keeps the the maximum 12 percent tax rate.

CHEERS to Framingham State University for launching a four-year bachelor’s degree program in American Sign Language (ASL), becoming the first public college or university in Massachusetts to do so. Beginning this fall, the school will offer ASL major's in two concentrations - American Sign Language/English Interpreting and Deaf Studies,

The program will prepare graduates for careers as interpreters, and for jobs in deaf education, counseling, social work, linguistics, and other related fields.

“Proficiency in American Sign Language is a marketable skill no matter what career path you pursue,” said Professor Luce Aubry, coordinator of the ASL/English Interpreting program. “Any agency or business serving or employing deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind individuals, has a need for employees who are fluent in ASL.”

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